The Iraqis depend on wells after the rivers dry up, issues and people

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[size=52]The Iraqis depend on wells after the rivers dry up, issues and people[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad Karam Saadi[/size]
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An attempt to save water at a minimum level from one of the wells (Ahmed Al-Rubaie / AFP)

[size=45]An exacerbation of  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in  Iraq has been recorded recently, which negatively affects various levels. In an attempt to manage their affairs, albeit with temporary solutions, Iraqis resort to digging wells.[/size]

[size=45]Once again, Iraqis resort to  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  or adopting abandoned wells to avoid part of the water shortage or cut off from their fields and villages, in an attempt to keep their families, livestock and some crops alive. The drilling operations are distributed in areas that are no longer confined to those that the  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] rivers do not cross , but also include the fertile plain areas in  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  eastern Iraq. This comes in an unprecedented phenomenon as a result of water scarcity, rising temperatures, and the increasing need of water for crops, livestock and the population.[/size]
[size=45]According to Iraqi official reports, 100 percent of the Euphrates River water comes from outside the country, and 67 percent of the Tigris River water comes from abroad, which confirms that the most prominent reason for the water crisis that  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  is experiencing is its failure to obtain its full water benefits for the two rivers. The Tigris and Euphrates are from Turkey and Iran, which are considered the upstream countries and which have built a number of dams. Iran, for its part, had deliberately changed the course of rivers to end life in the vast Iraqi regions adjacent to it that depended for hundreds of years on the waters of those rivers.[/size]
[size=45]In the province of Diyala, neighboring Iran, the water no longer reaches its most prominent rivers, known as the Diyala River and its source in Iran, which has caused  many [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  to abandon their profession, and thus to the “death” of their farms and orchards. However, many of them resorted to relying on wells “to maintain a simple source of livelihood,” according to Hadi al-Saadi to “The New Arab.” He points out that his family “owned hundreds of dunams (a dunam is equivalent to 2500 square meters) of farms that were our only source of livelihood.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Saadi added, “My family’s farms that my father and uncles inherited from their ancestors have not been cultivated for years because of the scarcity of water, noting that the orchards we own are large and their combined areas exceed 300 dunums and contain the best types of fruit trees. But about 60 percent of them died.” He points out that "year after year, we dig new wells to irrigate the remaining trees."[/size]
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[size=45]Agriculture and livestock breeding were inherited by many families living in rural areas, some of which are remote. Therefore, crops, livestock and poultry cannot be dispensed with, especially to provide daily food needs. This can be observed in the village of Haj Saleh, located in the northern province of Kirkuk, where Fatima Qader takes care of a few cows, goats, and a group of chickens and ducks in her barn adjacent to her home.
Qader told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "the residents of this village will abandon it if the groundwater runs out." Fatima, who lost her husband four years ago due to a terminal illness, helps her today in raising her animals and her two sons, who are still attending secondary school. Kader adds: “I don't need help running the business of raising my livestock, I'm used to it. I sell my milk and eggs daily, but all of that is threatened with extinction.”[/size]
[size=45]Qader notes that “in the past, water used to reach our village through the government water project through a waterwheel that met the purpose in terms of irrigating farms, providing water for animals, and all the needs of our village and other nearby villages. But the project’s water was cut off years ago, and we are relying on wells.” She continues, “The well we dug two years ago has dried up, and we have finally drilled a new well more than 100 meters from our house. And if the groundwater dries up without the possibility of providing new wells, we may move to another village.”[/size]
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This was an irrigation canal not long ago (Haider Muhammad Ali/AFP)
[size=45]For his part, farmer Munshid Hazaa, who lives in Salah al-Din governorate in the north of the country, believes that “adopting modern farming methods is a blessing,” and he tells “The New Arab” that it “save my family, my simple farm, and my animals.” Hazaa lives on the outskirts of a village that relied on agriculture more than two centuries ago, as water for agriculture, irrigation and daily uses for the villagers used to reach it from the Tigris River through a five-kilometre waterwheel. However, the drop in the river’s water level and its slightly changing course caused the water to be cut off from the Saqiya, and attempts to revive it have failed, especially with most of the farmers abandoning agriculture in recent years.”[/size]
[size=45]However, Hazaa confirms that he continues to work on his small farm of five acres, and takes care of his livestock by relying on wells, adding, “We have not known a drought like the one we are experiencing this year. It is increasing year by year. The well he used to irrigate crops and water the livestock has dried up, but I dug another well a few days ago.”[/size]
[size=45]Hazaa points out that “the well-drilling specialist told me that the new well would last for less than a year before it runs dry, and therefore I will have to dig a new one in another nearby area.” He continues, “Through the drip process and covered cultivation, I succeeded in exploiting the well water in a way that enables me to maintain my farm. I also decided to water my livestock through special ponds to avoid wasting water.”[/size]
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[size=45]In a related context, Hussein Fadel explains that “drilling wells is not an easy task, as it requires experience, know-how and the use of specific devices for deep drilling.” Fadel, who works in digging wells and owns a special device for this, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he relies on several points when choosing the location of the well. He explains that “it is first important to know what is inside the earth, perhaps communication networks or other electricity or oil or gas pipelines and so on. It is also necessary to ensure that the intended site contains groundwater, in addition to the quantity, quality and quality of that water, and this is possible by looking at the type of soil, its composition and other details. Sometimes, I hire a space specialist.”[/size]
[size=45]Fadel points out that, from the beginning of this year until June of it, he drilled 120 wells, while last year he drilled 159 wells, which confirms, according to what he says, that "this year has witnessed a significant increase in demand for wells." He adds that “most of the sites in which wells were dug are located on the southern and western outskirts of Baghdad, and in the provinces of Babil, Najaf, Kut and Anbar,” and he continues that “there are sites that contain huge amounts of groundwater in which drilling takes only a short time, and it can be used in Cultivation of large areas, especially in the central, northern and western regions of Iraq, unlike several areas where water is available at a very great depth and requires more time and effort in digging.”[/size]
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